Getting from Long Island (Islip) to NYC
 

Posting this question for a friend... They trying to plan a trip to NYC and find that SW has excellent fares to Long Island. How difficult is it to get to the airport in LI to NYC? And, if it's not too difficult, how do they get there?

Thanks in advance!

...Of course that should read "How difficult is it to get FROM the airport in LI to NYC...."

It's a little bit far. I am not sure if the Hampton Jitney stops in Islip, but if so, that's an option, rent a car, or take the Long Island Railroad.

The airport website has the options listed:
http://www.macarthurairport.com/page...ortation.shtml

It could be a 2 hour transport from door to door.

It's not too difficult depending on the route they take. A cab would be somewhere in the ballpark of $75. Or they can also take a cab to the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) station to NYC which will leave them at Penn Station / Madison Square Garden. The price for the train would be about $12.25 each during peak hours.

The phone number for the closest taxi in Islip is Islip Taxi at 631-436-7272.

Bear in mind that traffic is usually bad between LI and NYC, especially during peak time and would make the cab ride to NYC easily about an hour and a half. It's about 45 miles apart. I would say whether they take the LIRR or a cab straight would depend on their flight times.

It's not worth the time & headache unless you're saving *alot* of money on the airfare. Many airlines have great deals into LGA & EWR -- some better than Southworst.

As stated above, travel time could be 2-4 hours, depending on traffic getting into Manhattan.

The options from cheapest to most expensive (depending on # of people) are cab/LIRR, car service/Hampton Jitney, limousine or cab.

On a previous thread asking the same question (there are a bunch) someone mentioned sharing a limo service with another couple they met on the plane for $100 total one way.

The Jitney stops on the service road of the LIRR so you need transportation to that stop. They will recommend a company. The Jitney itself is $27 one way or $50 roundtrip/person. Look at hamptonjitney.com for info.

I've found that Southwest's wonderful fares vanish into vapor as soon as you start trying to reserve a trip. Note also that those great fares often involve at least two stops (if you're coming from the West Coast), at less-than-desirable departure and/or arrival times. I'll pay more just to NOT fly Southwest....

Unless the price is absurdly cheap like $99 roundtrip from the West Coast, I would spend the extra and fly into LGA or Newark.

Austin, I have read your posts before and I think you're from Austin tx.If your friend is trying to fly out of Austin, I have a different suggestion. I considered doing this also last summer because the rates are so high to fly from Austin to NYC. Instead of going to Long Island on SW, I decided to fly out of DFW because the rates were VERY cheap. I got a round trip fare for $180 with taxes. We spent the night at a hotel by the airport that does the,"Sleep Park & Fly" program where you can park your car up to two weeks at the hotel for the price of staying one night at their hotel. Our hotel was only $69.00. This worked out for us mainly because we felt like it would be more of a hassle to try to get from Long Island back and forth than going to DFW,plus we saved about 200.00 a person.

It is quite easy to get between Islip and NYC. Take the LIRR Ronkonkoma to Penn Station. The Colonial shuttle between the airport and the Ronkonkoma LIRR station is very easy to use.

Well, these are all opinion things, but I live on LI and always thought it was easy to just take the LIRR to Manhatten. Alot of the people that work in Manhatten live on LI and take the train in every day. So it's really not a big deal to get from LI to manhattten (they should NOT drive if they are not from the area. they WILL get lost). If I were your friends (since I don't live near MacArthur Airport), I would take the taxi to the nearest train station, take the train into the city (make sure your friends ask the conductor if they have to transfer trains to get to Penn Station- they can just ask the conductor on the train when he takes their tickets), and once they're in Penn, they can take the subway anywhere or walk. Where are they staying? They'll prob. get off peak unless they're traveling in the morning (before 9am) or early evening (4-8pm). Off peak is $5.75 one way. one more thing- SW doesn't have good fares to LI. Once they did, but I haven't found good fares to Islip since a few years ago. They should try a flight search engine like Expedia or Orbitz.com.

I live in Manhattan and have used both LIRR and car to get to Islip. In my opinion, I'd have to save at least $250/ticket to consider it.

Let's say you're going to Times Square. I'd rate the trip length at least 3 hours door to door via subway/LIRR/cab with all the transfer inconvenience. Plus, you have to adhere to the train schedule. And that train ride is long.

If you come in via LGA/EWR/JFK, it'd take 1 hour, with traffic. Best case, I've gotten home from LGA in 15 minutes.

So you're basically tacking on at least 4 hours to your travel time both ways, plus all that luggage lugging. Is it worth it? YMMV.

I'm with squeaky88th on the convenience of LGA.

Squeaky88th, you must live on the UES. I too have gotten to/from LGA in about 15 minutes. Just about always (knock on wood) in 30 or under. A few weeks ago I went from my sofa to sitting at the USAir gate in 35 minutes (and that includes curb-side luggage check). Few cities can beat that! I LOVE NY!

For those still curious about flying into Islip/MacArthur as opposed to the "Big 3" NYC airports, here is a quick trip report (just got back today):

Left Houston-Hobby at 10:50 AM (SWA). Flew into Chicago-Midway and changed planes (1 hr layover). Arrived at Islip/MacArthur at 5:10 PM and as I hadn't checked bags, I quickly caught shuttle to Ronkonkoma/LIRR train station. Shuttle cost $5.00 one way (more if you choose to tip). Arrived at the train station at 5:25 PM only to find the next train to Penn Station left at 7:13 PM. Fare for a one way ticket to Penn Station was $8.25 (off peak). Train trip from Ronkonkoma to NYC-Penn was 1 hour 22 minutes, arriving at 8:35 PM. After a quick cab ride to my hotel just north of Times Square, I was in my hotel by 9:00 PM. So not even including my wait time at Hobby prior to leaving Houston, I spent a good 12 hours in my "planes, trains, and automobiles" adventure through Islip to NYC. My trip back was almost as long, only about 1/2 hour shorter as I was able to arrive at Penn Station closer to my train departure time back to Ronkonkoma.
My advise - paying a bit more for a flight into EWR, JFK, or LGA is worth it to cut 5 or more hours off of your travel time. (As an example, I normally fly direct on COA from IAH to EWR). The trip, including flight and the Airlink rail to Penn Station takes no longer than 6 to 7 hours max - and coming into LGA or JFK is an even shorter trip.

I live on Long Island. The transport system is a mess, poorly coordinated, and often involving 1-2 hours waiting for a connection if it isn't rush hour. And, you want to do it with luggage??? The idea of flying to Islip to get to NYC is a hoot! Don't consider it.

I agree with post above. Unless you're traveling to see someone on Long Island that is going to pick you up, fly into the NYC airports.

I know a lot of budget travel gurus tout using an alternate airport to save money - but MacArthur is a prime example of why this usually doesn't work. Granted you may save a few dollars - but is it worth 10 hours of your time? At least in the New York area these airports are convenient only for local suburban residents with cars - there is extremely limited public transport and travel to the city is measaured in hours in each direction. (Not to mention that flights in/out of these airports are infrequent and often from places few people are coming from, requiring the traveler to make multiple stops.)

Out of pure frustation related to the LI-NYC transportation. I took
SWA to Baltimore ,took free shuttle to amtak station ...Amtak to NYC..comfortable (off peak times).
I hear SWA will be flying into Philly"soon".However, the Amtak station is downtown and don't know about shuttles??
Part of my choices influenced by my love of trains....Have you checked Jet Blue???good fares VERY comfortable... and fly into JFK--
of course then it costs $35 for traxi into town OR $ 18 for shuttle...
All this is really worth it...NYC is wonderful...